Noisy Neighbors and 7-Elevens
by AwkwardHumanBeanThing
Summary: Annabeth had a rough morning, and right now all she really wants is some milk for her cereal.


Annabeth had been having a rough morning. She awoke to her neighbors in the apartment above her obnoxiously shouting. Not able to fall back to sleep, she had decided to get an early start on the day. Tumbling out of her crickety bed and abandoning the warmth of the sheets that had enveloped her, she padded over to the pantry to grab some Wheaties. Retrieving the breakfast of champions, she proceeded to open the fridge that hummed a good morning. To her horror however, the fridge had been desolate, given the exception of a couple bruised apples and ingredients for a chicken salad she had been planning to make later that day.

Huffing in annoyance, she shut the door with a harsh shove. Golden locks tumbled into her face from the loose scrunchie she had put it in from the night before. Angrily muttering to herself, she weighed her options. Either she could make an early run to the grocery store, brave it and just eat her dry cereal, or run to the 7-Eleven around the corner. Glancing over to the round clock that hung on the beige walls, she saw it was only 7:34. Yes, that may be an average time for a person to wake up, but Annabeth had stayed up late the previous day to work on an essay her college professor had assigned. She had only fallen to sleep at 1:20 that morning, unable to drift off without knowing that she had all her work done for the upcoming week.

Returning to reality, she made her decision. Too lazy to change her outfit or even attempt to tame the blonde rats' nest that she called her hair, she resided to make the short trip to the convenience store to grab some milk. She absolutely refused to regress into a primordial state and gnaw on the dry Wheaties.

Snatching her keys from off of the kitchen counter and her phone which had a couple of bucks tucked away in its case, Annabeth tied up a pair of faded silver converse. It almost matched with her baggy gray sweatpants and her swirling, cloudy eyes. For a moment she debated whether or not she should change her loose white tank top to something more suitable for the day, but quickly scrapped the idea after reassuring herself she would only really have to face the clerk, and they would most likely not care what she was wearing.

Snaking her way through alleys and crossing the nearly vacant streets, Annabeth finally arrived at her final destination, the glorious 7-Eleven. Basking in the sweet chime of the bell that signaled her entrance, Annabeth scanned the isles. A scrawny, emo looking kid manned the cashier, but he looked fairly preoccupied with his phone. Another, taller guy around her age looked to be searching the isles himself.

Although she only caught a brief glimpse, Annabeth was still fairly impressed. He had hair resembling obsidian, but it seemed nearly as chaotic as hers must have appeared. He was clad in a bluish gray sweatshirt and a pair of loose, dark wash jeans. A sharp nose protruded from the center of his face, and his lips were thin and pressed together while he scanned the ingredients of a package of Doritos. He looked to be around the same age as Annabeth, even though he was a good head taller than her, and darn, even with that baggy clothing she could tell the man had a lean body.

After the man had turned his back to her, Annabeth remembered the original purpose of her adventure there: milk.

She quickly grabbed a carton from the back and went to checkout with the emo boy. Right as she went up to the counter, she saw the black haired male snag a large Crunch bar and leave the store.

Analyzing the situation, Annabeth recognized that he _definitely_ did not have that bar when he was paying for the rest of his purchases, and it was _highly_ unlikely that the cashier even noticed his steal, seeing as he was still staring at his phone.

"Excuse me, but did that guy just take a Crunch bar without paying for it?" Annabeth inquired, setting the milk down on the counter.

The young man, in his late teens at the oldest, look perplexed. "Uh..."

Annabeth flared at him for his ignorance for a moment before softening her expression. It was not his fault that that handsome looking miscreant had stolen the candy. The darkness soon returned in her eyes though, as she realized that the jerk had just demeaned this poor kid in front of her, and the fine establishment itself. Not to mention that it wasn't fair! Here Annabeth was, being a good citizen and paying for her milk so she could have a respectable breakfast, and he just stole a candy bar!

In a lapse of judgement, Annabeth speedily abandoned the register and went off to chase after the lowlife.

Barging out of the shop, she soon spotted a mop of black hair jogging off in the distance. Using all her powers from high school track, she bolted off after the bum. Relishing in the crisp morning air, she panted heavily as she attempted to catch up with the criminal. She supposed that her original analysis of him having a lean body was correct, and now she cursed the gods for him being so fast.

The man had turned into an alleyway between apartment houses when Annabeth finally caught up to him. He suddenly skidded to a stop and dropped the flimsy plastic bag that contained his purchased items, and the stolen Crunch bar, Annabeth assumed.

The sudden stop caught Annabeth off-guard, and she nearly collided right into the stranger. The admittedly fast, somewhat cute, low life stranger.

"Hey! What do you think you're-" he bellowed, outstretching his arm to point an accusing finger at Annabeth.

Her instincts took over though, and before he could finish his accusation or make a move to approach Annabeth, she grabbed his arm and judo flipped him over her shoulder. She could see all the air leave him when he let out a surprised "Oof" and took the opportunity to pin him to the ground.

"Return the Crunch bar," Annabeth growled, conjuring up her fiercest snarl. Clarisse, a kind-of-not-really friend and the captain of the girls wrestling team from Annabeth's high school, would be proud.

"What?" He cried, brows furrowing.

"The Crunch bar you stole from the 7-Eleven you were just at! I saw you take it!"

His confused expression suddenly morphed into one of laughter, as he chuckled to himself. After regaining his composure, the male responded with a twinkle in his clear green eyes. "I bought that! I talked to Nico, my friend at the cashier, and he said that I could just pay for it there and grab it on the way out!"

Annabeth, all of a sudden feeling quite self-conscious, felt a blush rise up on her cheeks. She lowered her head in an attempt to avoid eye contact and have a few stray pieces of her golden hair hide her from view. Never before had she had such the will to implode in on herself.

"So, er… You mind getting off of me? This isn't exactly the most comfortable position."

Practically launching herself off him, Annabeth began profusely apologizing. "I'm really, really sorry, sir! I normally don't go around flipping people, but I don't know. I was just trying to make everything right because I had a really rough night and I didn't get any sleep, and this morning I didn't have any milk for breakfast so I had to run out and get it and-"

"No it's fine! I think that's honestly one of the best greetings I've had in a while though. It's not every day that I get to be flipped by a cute girl trying to stop a guy from stealing a candy bar. I'm Percy by the way," the boy, now identified as Percy, stated. He outstretched his hand for a friendly shake and Annabeth shook it.

"Annabeth," she responded. As soon as the shake stopped though, her jaw went slack and her eyes widened. "My milk!" She shrieked. "I forgot my freakin milk!"

"Well," Percy began, "if you don't want to go back or anything, we could go to this bakery nearby. My mom owns it and she has some killer blue cookies! Of course, if you don't want to, that's totally fine. I mean, I you did just meet me and I guess you don't really know me, but-"

"I'd really like that." Annabeth interrupted, smile gracing her features.

And that was how 7-Eleven became Annabeth's favorite store, and her noisy neighbors were given a batch of blue chocolate chip cookies with a small card attached reading the words "Thank you!"

* * *

Hey! So, this is kinda my first story uploaded and I have no idea how the format or anything would be. Please leave a review if something seems screwy, much like my personality. -_- Okay, I should probably go now. Thanks for reading and have a wonderful day!


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